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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Daniel 3 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/daniel/3.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/daniel/3.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/daniel/3-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Ellicott</a> > <a href="../daniel/">Daniel</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../daniel/2.htm" title="Daniel 2">◄</a> Daniel 3 <a href="../daniel/4.htm" title="Daniel 4">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</div><div class="chap"><span class= "bld">III.</span><p>An important addition appears in both Greek Versions of Daniel, in accordance with which the event recorded in this chapter took place in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. Whence the tradition arose cannot be ascertained. It was certainly unknown to Josephus. It has been supposed that the date was added by the translators, on account of their supposing the erection of the image to be connected with the taking of Jerusalem. However, this is improbable, as the siege itself was not finished till the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar (<a href="/2_kings/25-8.htm" title="And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, to Jerusalem:">2Kings 25:8</a>). It has also been conjectured that the statue was one of the king himself, erected in commemoration of some great victories recently won by him. This is not impossible; but, partly from the mention of the sacred numbers, 6, 60, partly from the language of <a href="/daniel/3-12.htm" title="There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not regarded you: they serve not your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up.">Daniel 3:12</a>; <a href="/daniel/3-14.htm" title="Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said to them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not you serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?">Daniel 3:14</a>; <a href="/daniel/3-18.htm" title="But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up.">Daniel 3:18</a>; <a href="/daniel/3-20.htm" title="And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.">Daniel 3:20</a>, it appears more probable that the image was erected in honour of some god. There is no doubt (see <span class= "ital">Records of the Past,</span> vol. v., p. 113) that this king did erect an image of Bel Merodach. Possibly we have in this chapter a parallel account of the dedication of the image.<p><span class= "bld">EXCURSUS B: THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS MENTIONED IN Daniel 3.</span><p>THE Babylonians as a nation appear to have been remarkably fond of music. Isaiah (<a href="/isaiah/14-11.htm" title="Your pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of your viols: the worm is spread under you, and the worms cover you.">Isaiah 14:11</a>) speaks of the noise of the viols of Babylon as forming part of her pomp, and it may be presumed that the desire of the Babylonians to hear some of the strains of Zion (<a href="/context/psalms/137-2.htm" title="We hanged our harps on the willows in the middle thereof.">Psalm 137:2-3</a>) was not uttered in mockery, but from a genuine wish, such as all persons have who really care for music at all, to hear the melodies of foreign countries. Further evidence is afforded by sculptures, which represent various musical instruments and considerable bands of performers.<p>Whence the Babylonian music was originally derived is not known, though probably we must look to Egypt as the source; but it may be asserted that whatever was not indigenous to Babylonia itself must have come from the same sources whence articles of commerce were acquired. At the time of Daniel, Babylon held commerce in the west with Egypt and Tyre. By means of both these lines of commerce Babylon was brought into contact with Greece, the great mistress of art in the sixth century B.C. And as we find traces among the Greek instruments of the Semitic Nabla and Kinura, it seems, <span class= "ital">à priori,</span> highly probable that some of the Greek instruments should have found their way to Tyre, and to Egypt, and then penetrated to Babylon.<p>For many years previous to Nebuchadnezzar there had been considerable communication between Greece and the East. We know that 300 years earlier Sargon made Javan or Greece tributary. The statue of this king found at Idalium proves that he conquered the Greek colony of Cyprus. His son Sennacherib, we know, was engaged in war with Greeks in Cilicia. His grandson, Esarhaddon, had Greeks fighting on his side during his Asian campaign. It would be very remarkable if, during the many years throughout which Greece and Assyria were brought into connection, the musical instruments of the one nation should not have become known to the other. And if Assyria acquired Greek musical instruments, what is more probable than that many years before Nebuchadnezzar’s time they were known in Babylon?<p>The connection between Greece and the East did not cease with the fall of the Assyrian empire. In the army of Nebuchadnezzar we find serving as soldier the brother of the poet Alcæus, and a few lines are extant in which this great lyric writer welcomes home his brother from the Babylonian campaign. The historical notices of these times are very scanty, so that it is not easy to demonstrate the extent of Greek commerce in the sixth century B.C., but the facts mentioned above give us strong grounds for supposing that at an early period there was an interchange of musical instruments between the East and the West, and with the instruments would pass their names, which in the course of time would become more or less corrupted as the people who adopted them found it hard or easy to pronounce and transliterate the words.<p>We should expect therefore, <span class= "ital">à priori,</span> in any list of Babylonian instruments, to find some of the names of Semitic, some of Greek extraction, and some of very doubtful etymology. This is precisely what we find in the book of Daniel. Of the names of the six instruments mentioned, two are undoubtedly of Semitic origin, one if not two are Greek, one is uncertain, while the sixth is perhaps not an instrument at all, though the word is undoubtedly Greek.<p>The instruments that have Semitic names are the “cornet” and the “flute.” They are both of great antiquity. The former is frequently found in the reliefs which represent military scenes, and the mention of it in this chapter is probably to be accounted for by the fact that the army was present.<p>The instruments which appear to have been derived from Greece are the “harp” and the “psaltery.” The former is frequently represented in the reliefs, possessing strings in number from three upwards. The psaltery is of uncertain etymology, but looks like a Greek word. The context requires a word to denote “cymbals,” which occur very frequently in the sculptures, and do not readily find an equivalent among the instruments mentioned by David.<p>What the “sackbut” may have been must be left undecided. It is true that a word <span class= "ital">sambuca</span> occurs in Greek, but it is of foreign extraction.<p>The “dulcimer,” <span class= "ital">sûmphonia</span> in the Chaldee, is probably not the name of a musical instrument, but means a “concerted piece of music.” The passages upon which it has been inferred that the <span class= "ital">sûmphonia</span> was an instrument are Polyb. xxvi. 10, § 5, Athen. x. 53 (near the end); neither passage, however, is conclusive.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/daniel/3-1.htm">Daniel 3:1</a></div><div class="verse">Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height <i>was</i> threescore cubits, <i>and</i> the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.</div>(1) <span class= "bld">An image.</span>—If this image was made after the manner described (<a href="/context/isaiah/44-9.htm" title="They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.">Isaiah 44:9-20</a>), the body was formed of wood, and the whole, when properly shaped, was covered with thin plates of gold. As the height of the whole is disproportionate to the width, it is probable that the height of the pedestal on which the image stood is included under the sixty cubits.<p><span class= "bld">Plain of Dura.</span>—The older commentators identified this place with various sites, some north, some east of Babylon. Recent discoveries place it nearer to Babylon, in a place still called by a similar name.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/daniel/3-2.htm">Daniel 3:2</a></div><div class="verse">Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellers, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.</div>(2) <span class= "bld">Sent</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> sent heralds, as appears from <a href="/daniel/3-4.htm" title="Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages,">Daniel 3:4</a>. (On the Babylonian officers, see <span class= "ital">Exc.</span> A.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/daniel/3-4.htm">Daniel 3:4</a></div><div class="verse">Then an herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages,</div>(4) <span class= "bld">People, nations.</span>—In Biblical language the latter word is used (<a href="/genesis/25-16.htm" title="These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations.">Genesis 25:16</a>) of the tribes of Ishmael, each of which had its own head, or of the Midianites (<a href="/numbers/25-15.htm" title="And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head over a people, and of a chief house in Midian.">Numbers 25:15</a>). The former is applied to Israel in <a href="/psalms/111-6.htm" title="He has showed his people the power of his works, that he may give them the heritage of the heathen.">Psalm 111:6</a>, where occurs the phrase, “people of Jehovah.” The word “languages” is applied (<a href="/genesis/10-5.htm" title="By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.">Genesis 10:5</a>; <a href="/genesis/10-20.htm" title="These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.">Genesis 10:20</a>, &c.) to tribes as represented by their languages. Hence these three expressions denote all nations subject to the empire, of whatever description of language, government, or federation. (Comp. <a href="/daniel/3-29.htm" title="Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.">Daniel 3:29</a>, and <a href="/daniel/4-1.htm" title="Nebuchadnezzar the king, to all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied to you.">Daniel 4:1</a>; <a href="/daniel/7-14.htm" title="And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.">Daniel 7:14</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/daniel/3-5.htm">Daniel 3:5</a></div><div class="verse"><i>That</i> at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up:</div>(5) <span class= "bld">The cornet.</span>—On the musical instruments, see <span class= "ital">Exc.</span> B.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/daniel/3-6.htm">Daniel 3:6</a></div><div class="verse">And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.</div>(6) <span class= "bld">Shall be cast</span> . . .—This punishment was not uncommon among the Babylonians. One instance of it is mentioned by Jeremiah (<a href="/jeremiah/29-22.htm" title="And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Judah which are in Babylon, saying, The LORD make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire;">Jeremiah 29:22</a>; see also <span class= "ital">Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archœology,</span> vol. ii., p. 361). The occasion being a national festival, any refusal to worship the national gods would be regarded as high treason. Any foreign subjects would be expected to take part in the ceremony, their gods being supposed to have been conquered, and being regarded as demons. (Comp. <a href="/2_kings/19-12.htm" title="Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed; as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Thelasar?">2Kings 19:12</a>; <a href="/2_chronicles/28-23.htm" title="For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.">2Chronicles 28:23</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/daniel/3-8.htm">Daniel 3:8</a></div><div class="verse">Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and accused the Jews.</div>(8) <span class= "bld">Wherefore.</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> because certain Jews were noticed to be absent at the time. It is natural to suppose that the promotion of three men of Jewish extraction would have been viewed with the greatest jealousy by the Babylonian officers, who, no doubt, had been carefully watching their opportunity of revenge. (Comp. <a href="/daniel/5-11.htm" title="There is a man in your kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of your father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom the king Nebuchadnezzar your father, the king, I say, your father, made master of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers;">Daniel 5:11</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">Chaldeans.</span>—Not to be confused with the astrologers mentioned in <a href="/daniel/2-5.htm" title="The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if you will not make known to me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, you shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill.">Daniel 2:5</a>, but Chaldean native subjects, contrasted with the Jewish colonists spoken of at the end of the verse.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/daniel/3-12.htm">Daniel 3:12</a></div><div class="verse">There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.</div>(12) <span class= "bld">Whom thou hast set.—</span>The high position of these men is mentioned partly to explain the king’s anger on account of their supposed ingratitude, and partly to account for the malice and jealousy of their calumniators. But why was Daniel absent from the ceremony? His behaviour some years later (<a href="/daniel/6-10.htm" title="Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled on his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.">Daniel 6:10</a>) leaves it beyond question that he would not have taken part in any idolatrous rites. Possibly his position as “chief of the wise men” (<a href="/daniel/2-48.htm" title="Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon.">Daniel 2:48</a>) made his presence unnecessary. Possibly he was absent on other duties. Two things are certain: (1) the object of the book is not to glorify Daniel; (2) a writer of a fictitious story would have recorded a miracle to deliver Daniel, as well as the three children.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/daniel/3-14.htm">Daniel 3:14</a></div><div class="verse">Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, <i>Is it</i> true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?</div>(14) <span class= "bld">Is it true?</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">Is it of design</span> or <span class= "ital">of set purpose that you have done this?</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/daniel/3-15.htm">Daniel 3:15</a></div><div class="verse">Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; <i>well</i>: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who <i>is</i> that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?</div>(15) <span class= "bld">Well.</span>—The word is not in the Chaldee, where an aposiopesis is to be observed, as in <a href="/exodus/32-32.htm" title="Yet now, if you will forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray you, out of your book which you have written.">Exodus 32:32</a>. Comp. <a href="/luke/13-9.htm" title="And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that you shall cut it down.">Luke 13:9</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Who is that God?</span>—Nebuchadnezzar has so little belief in his own gods that he ranks himself as far above them as above Jehovah. He defies all supernatural powers. Very different is the boast of Sennacherib (<a href="/context/isaiah/36-18.htm" title="Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, the LORD will deliver us. Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?">Isaiah 36:18-20</a>), who pits his own god Assur against Jehovah.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/daniel/3-16.htm">Daniel 3:16</a></div><div class="verse">Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we <i>are</i> not careful to answer thee in this matter.</div>(16) <span class= "bld">O Nebuchadnezzar.—</span>They mention the king by name, so as to make their address correspond with his (<a href="/daniel/3-14.htm" title="Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said to them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not you serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?">Daniel 3:14</a>). His attention would in this way be directed to the strong antithesis between his statement (<a href="/daniel/3-15.htm" title="Now if you be ready that at what time you hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if you worship not, you shall be cast the same hour into the middle of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?">Daniel 3:15</a>) and theirs (<a href="/daniel/3-17.htm" title="If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.">Daniel 3:17</a>). Great though the distinction was between king and subject in such a country as Babylon, yet that distinction was lost when any collision occurred between duty to Jehovah and obedience to a royal edict.<p><span class= "bld">We</span> <span class= "bld">are not careful.—</span>More correctly, as translated by Theodotion, <span class= "ital">We have no need</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> it is needless for us to give any reply.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/daniel/3-17.htm">Daniel 3:17</a></div><div class="verse">If it be <i>so</i>, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver <i>us</i> out of thine hand, O king.</div>(17) <span class= "bld">If</span> <span class= "bld">it be so.</span>—The meaning becomes clearer by omitting the word “so.” The sentence will then stand as follows: “If our God is able to deliver us . . . then He will do so; but if He does not deliver us, be assured that we will not serve thy gods.” The three holy children are quite content to leave the whole matter in the hands of Providence. They know that the law of obedience is the first law of all, and this they are resolved to keep. There is not the slightest ground for supposing that they expected a miraculous deliverance. Their language implies no more than faithful obedience. (See <a href="/isaiah/43-2.htm" title="When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you: when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle on you.">Isaiah 43:2</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">Is able.—</span>They did not question His power; they did not know whether He would will to exercise the use of it. (Comp. <a href="/genesis/19-22.htm" title="Haste you, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till you be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.">Genesis 19:22</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/daniel/3-19.htm">Daniel 3:19</a></div><div class="verse">Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: <i>therefore</i> he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated.</div>(19) <span class= "bld">One seven times.—</span>It is doubtful whether “seven” is used here as a round number or not. According to the Babylonian mythology, there were seven demons, named “Maskim,” who were the most formidable of the infernal powers. Perhaps the number “seven” has a reference to them, for the religious nature of the punishment favours the view that the overheating of the furnace was regarded as a religious act.<p><span class= "bld">Than it was wont.</span>—More correctly, <span class= "ital">than it was fitting.</span> The improper heating of the furnace led to the death of the mighty men (<a href="/daniel/3-22.htm" title="Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flames of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.">Daniel 3:22</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/daniel/3-20.htm">Daniel 3:20</a></div><div class="verse">And he commanded the most mighty men that <i>were</i> in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, <i>and</i> to cast <i>them</i> into the burning fiery furnace.</div>(20) <span class= "bld">The most mighty men.—</span>He selected these as being the most likely to be able to bear the unusual heat of the fire. Whether he had any expectation that some attempt at a rescue would be made does not appear. We may gather, however, that the army was present at this horrible tragedy.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/daniel/3-21.htm">Daniel 3:21</a></div><div class="verse">Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their <i>other</i> garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.</div>(21) <span class= "bld">Their coats.—</span>The dresses spoken of here correspond with what Herodotus tells us (i. 195) of the Babylonian costume. As far as can be determined from the etymology of the words, the “coat” was an under-clothing, which covered the whole body; the “hose” was some species of tunic—something “spread out” over the under-clothing; the “hat” (the only one of the three words of which no Hebrew root exists (see <a href="/1_chronicles/15-27.htm" title="And David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, and all the Levites that bore the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the master of the song with the singers: David also had on him an ephod of linen.">1Chronicles 15:27</a>), was a sort of cloak, used probably for State occasions only.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/daniel/3-22.htm">Daniel 3:22</a></div><div class="verse">Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.</div>(22) <span class= "bld">Urgent.</span>—The same word is translated <span class= "ital">hasty</span> (<a href="/daniel/2-15.htm" title="He answered and said to Arioch the king's captain, Why is the decree so hasty from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel.">Daniel 2:15</a>). The king’s command had been uttered while he was in a furious rage, and in consequence of this, the furnace was raised to so high a temperature that the executioners were slain. The death of the executioners forms an evident contrast with the deliverance of those who had been sentenced to die.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/daniel/3-24.htm">Daniel 3:24</a></div><div class="verse">Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, <i>and</i> spake, and said unto his counsellers, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.</div>(24) <span class= "bld">Was astonied.—</span>He had been watching the proceedings from a distance through the “mouth” (<a href="/daniel/3-26.htm" title="Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spoke, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the most high God, come forth, and come here. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the middle of the fire.">Daniel 3:26</a>), which was in the side of the furnace.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/daniel/3-25.htm">Daniel 3:25</a></div><div class="verse">He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.</div>(25) <span class= "bld">The Son</span> <span class= "bld">of</span> <span class= "bld">God.—</span>These words, let us remember, are uttered by a heathen king, who calls this same Person, in <a href="/daniel/3-28.htm" title="Then Nebuchadnezzar spoke, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.">Daniel 3:28</a>, “an angel” of the God whom the three children worshipped. Probably Nebuchadnezzar thought that He stood to Jehovah in the same relation that he himself did to Merodach. His conceptions of the power of Jehovah were evidently raised by what he had witnessed, though as yet he does not recognise Him as being more than a chief among gods. He has not risen to that conception of the unity of God which is essential to His absolute supremacy. But still the question has to be answered, What did the king see? The early Patristic interpretation was that. it was none other than Christ Himself. We have no means of ascertaining anything further, and must be content with knowing that the same “Angel of God’s presence” who was with Israel in the wilderness watched over the people in Babylon.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/daniel/3-28.htm">Daniel 3:28</a></div><div class="verse"><i>Then</i> Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed <i>be</i> the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.</div>(28) <span class= "bld">Have changed.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">have transgressed.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/daniel/3-29.htm">Daniel 3:29</a></div><div class="verse">Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort.</div>(</span>29<span class= "ital">)</span> <span class= "bld">Anything amiss.</span>—The marginal version is to be preferred.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/daniel/3-30.htm">Daniel 3:30</a></div><div class="verse">Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon.</div>(30) <span class= "bld">Promoted</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.,</span> he reinstated them to their former posts, from which they had been temporarily deposed.<p><span class= "bld"><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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